Sunday, January 13

Canadian Parents want the safest vehicle for their family but government says no way!

Alison Morris and her husband Edwin just want to have the safest rig for their large family. They thought they had covered all the bases and even were willing to pay the required taxes on their modified vehicle. This was NOT good enough for the Canadian government.

This spat has been going on for well over a year and cost the Morris family around $90,000.

As if it were so easy, and it actually should be but the Canadian government, Transport Canada have deemed the case closed and the family does not have use of their vehicle. This family did NOT want a 12-15 passenger van as they deemed it not safe enough and you know what? I concur 100% about their choice to NOT settle for a 12-15 passenger van. My opinion is one based on my personal experiences with these large passenger vans

Why? I will tell you why. These larger vans handle like overloaded pigs, do not handle moderate to high winds well at all, roll quite easily, and it is quite easy to lose control of these larger size vans. I consider myself an extremely good driver and i am very defensively minded when it comes to driving.

I have driven this type of van made by different vehicle companies and they are all the same. The ones made by Chrysler Corporation were better than the Ford or GM, but still were unacceptable.
I drove them when I worked in the woods as crew crummy, and they were 'crummy.' On wet, icy, muddy,snowy roads they were twitchy and butt unstable. The front end floated no mater how well distributed the crew or cargo was. Even in a light to moderate wind you felt like a the rig had a sail on the roof and it caught every gust and magnified it. Granted these rigs sit higher up but I have driven other crew cabs, larger rigs and none of them felt as unstable as these 12-15 passenger vans did. In a 4x4 version they were noticeable more stable but I would NOT trust my family in one of these vans, period. What this family did made common, safety first sense in every way possible yet the Canadian government has confiscated their vehicle. A Suburban would be my choice here and for a larger family like this, why not get it properly set up and equipped.

This is clearly government overreach and it is very sad the government would refuse to compromise with the Morris family. The government does not know what is best for most of us and if you believe that the government has your best interest at heart, think again. Just as we are seeing here Stateside, our friends to the north have their freedoms being chipped away at. They do not suffer from a traitorous leader like Obama and administration of back stabbing communist freedom haters.

Alison and Edwin, this post is for your freedom and liberty and more importantly, for the safety of your family as you put that first, as it should be.

Dang, all that bread and donuts look mighty fine and can we borrow Edwin here at Schloss Homer? The again, the Canadian government might not let him back into Canada from the USA so maybe not.

You can find Alison here on Twitter. Give her a follow and some encouragement, especially your prayers.

Honored to know you a bit Alison, and do this for you all. PatriotUSA

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Property rights at risk at border

Joseph Quesnel,
The StarPhoenix

Published: Friday, August 17, 2012

Quesnel
is a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, where
he writes about property rights issues. This article was distributed by
Troy Media.

A Saskatchewan family recently discovered the perilous nature of property rights when crossing the Canada-United States border.

Edwin
and Alison Morris had their Canadianpurchased truck modified in
Oklahoma but border officials prevented it from re-entering Canada. They
have since faced one year of a merry-go-round with government
officials.

With eight children, the Morrises determined that a 12-to
15-passenger van would not be safe for their family, so they resolved to
customize a vehicle for their use. Since they could not find anyone in
Canada to do the job, they located someone in the U.S. to do it.

According
to the Morris family, a Canada Border Services Agency supervisor told
them that their modified vehicle would not be considered an import that
needs federal certification. Border Services doesn't dispute their
claim.

Now, the vehicle cannot re-enter the country, and it cannot
go back to the U.S. unimpeded because it's a Canadian vehicle. Border
officials have temporarily allowed the vehicle to remain at the border,
pending a solution with Transport Canada.

In the 1990s, Parliament
removed the definition of import in the Motor Vehicle Safety Act,
turning wide discretion into an ample power. Before leaving
Canada, the couple ensured their new vehicle had its Canada Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards certification. But because the vehicle was
modified in the United States and included used parts, border officials
consider it an import.

The officials won't allow the vehicle to be
moved to provincial inspection stations. Safety inspections are a
provincial responsibility, but Transport Canada officials won't
acknowledge it as allowable since they consider their own tests to be
"much more stringent" than those of the provinces.

Alison Morris
said it would be next to impossible to meet CMVSS standards now. "To
recertify means to crash test the vehicle, even though we have altered
nothing that affects the CMVSS. If we crash it, obviously we can't drive
it." Transport Canada also stated that it wouldn't accept any testing
anyway, because the vehicle has used parts.

The family has gone to
great lengths to make the vehicle "safe" to the government's
satisfaction. The Morrises have also suggested an appeal to receive an
exemption from the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Although commercial
exemptions exist, they were informed the CMVSS standards do not apply to
individuals within Canada.

On June 22, Transport Canada officials
advised the Morris family that they consider the matter closed. They
were given the option of selling the vehicle back to the modifier, who
then must sell it somewhere outside Canada or the United States.
Officials apparently also quibbled with the Morrises about their choice
to avoid large passenger vans because of safety concerns.

They
indicated that if the Morrises are not happy with their options, they
could sell the banned vehicle at the border and build a new one in
Canada, suggesting that there are no violations of the safety standards.
But they simply cannot drive in their modified vehicle.

Transport Canada has been involved in similarly nightmarish episodes
with other western residents. Mike Nickerson is an Alberta rancher who
became a limo driver more than 10 years ago. Under the Motor Vehicle
Safety Act for importing a vehicle into Canada, border officials
declared his modified vehicle to be a bus, not a truck.

Nickerson
purchased the new Chevrolet one-ton truck from a dealer in Calgary. It
was then modified into a 14-passenger limousine in Texas. In early July
1999, the newly converted stretch limousine returned to Alberta, passed
inspections and was registered with the Alberta government.

One
month later, however, Transport Canada deemed the limousine unsafe and
abruptly seized it, arguing illegal importation. Nickerson fought the
ruling until an Alberta Court of Appeals judgment went against him in
2003.

Nickerson said he was not aware of all the import regulations.
Officials found safety concerns involving braking, flammability and fuel
leaks. He wishes the government had worked with him as an entrepreneur
rather than punish him.

Clearly, there is need for more
accommodating rules to protect property. Faulty information from a
government official has cost the Morrises $90,000. In cases in which the
advice and actions of government officials lead directly to the loss of
property, there ought to be monetary compensation for such loss.